Earth-conscious can be way of life

Couple make choices to conserve the planet for future generations.

Couple make choices to conserve the planet for future generations.

May 08, 2006|MARTA HEPLER DRAHOS Traverse City Record-Eagle

INTERLOCHEN, Mich. -- When his great-grandfather built the cottage Marc Alderman lives in, Earth Day was still 50 years away, and the term "earth conscious" had yet to be coined. Even so, "reduce, reuse, recycle" were things most people did out of habit and necessity. It's a way of life Alderman and his wife Dede are redefining for themselves in the 21st century. For them, helping to conserve the planet for future generations isn't a choice. It's an obligation. "Recently I started thinking about my legacy and what I'm going to leave," said Marc, 30. "I don't want it to be 'stuff.' I want it to be thoughts and ideas. I think about my time on earth as rented and I want to leave a small footprint." Becoming "earth friendly" wasn't an overnight process but a slow metamorphosis, said the couple, freelance percussionists who also perform as a duo through the Michigan Touring Arts program. Dede, 25, grew up in a part of northern Michigan where housing consisted largely of trailers and environmentalism wasn't valued. "Nobody really cared about reducing your water or about solar power," she said as she sipped a cup of free-trade coffee at the couple's sun-dappled kitchen table overlooking Green Lake. It wasn't until the fifth grade, when a friend casually suggested they become vegetarians, that she began to think about her impact on earth. While her first foray into vegetarianism was short-lived, it got her contemplating deeper issues. "I started thinking, 'I'm a vegetarian but I'm wearing leather shoes. I'm a vegetarian but I'm wearing a leather coat,' " she recalled. In high school, after picking up a magazine published by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, she began to make life changes in earnest. At home, she tried to set up recycling stations and asked her family to save water by not running the faucet while they brushed their teeth. Marc was more successful in his efforts. After learning about recycling in junior high school, he got his blended family of seven to agree to recycle, with support from his mom. "She'd definitely already instilled a love and care of the environment," he said. Now the couple tries to live by the three R's of conservation -- reduce, reuse and recycle -- plus one more: re-buy. That means refusing bags at grocery stores, avoiding non-recyclable packaging, replacing dead batteries with rechargeable ones and composting food waste or feeding it to their dog, Max, among other things.